Western Bulldogs AFL ruckman Will Minson fought back tears as he fronted a media conference after his club imposed a one-match ban for using insulting language towards Port Adelaide's Danyle Pearce.
The incident during Sunday's round-12 game at Etihad Stadium outraged Pearce and his teammates. Minson reportedly made a reference to Pearce's mother, although the ruckman refused to divulge details of his comments on Tuesday.
Minson admitted his reputation had suffered following his second sledging incident, after apologising in 2008 for offending Power veteran Kane Cornes with a comment about the Port player's ill son.
"I am very sorry for what was said on the field and I will continue to make attempts to contact Danyle throughout the day," Minson said on Tuesday at Whitten Oval.
"The last 24 hours have been an extremely stressful period for myself and no doubt unnecessarily stressful for Danyle Pearce and his family and the Port Adelaide Football Club.
"I have absolutely no intention of putting anyone through that sort of stress or attention ever again.
"What I said on the field, I am very disappointed about that. My comments were inappropriate."
Minson choked up and was unable to answer at one stage when asked about his reputation.
"People are going to form their opinions either way. I have no control over what people say or think about me," Minson said.
"I displayed poor actions on the weekend."
Minson said he could help other players by explaining to them what he had gone through in the past 24 hours.
"That (stigma) is certainly what I'm going to be dealing with for the rest of my life and it's important I learn from this experience and I intend to do so," he said.
Minson will miss Saturday's game against Brisbane at Etihad Stadium.
The AFL announced on Monday it had launched an investigation.
The league's football operations general manager Adrian Anderson said on Tuesday the AFL endorsed the club's decision to suspend Minson for one match, for him to issue a formal apology to Pearce and to be part of a compulsory education session around the game's Respect and Responsibility Policy with AFL Cultural Strategy and Education Manager Sue Clark.
Bulldogs' chief executive Simon Garlick said: "While Will is genuinely remorseful for his actions, the club will not tolerate the use of inappropriate and offensive comments, especially in regards to women."
Minson there was no excuse for his behaviour.
